Product news: Milan company Looodus has designed a toy that allows children to learn about typography and the alphabet at the same time.

Looodus laser cut each of the 26 letters in the alphabet in the shape of a typeface that begins with that letter, so T is represented by Times New Roman and P is written in Playbill.

The letters slot into a wooden board with the names of the fonts inscribed under each.

Fonts were carefully selected for their shapes and sizes, and come in shades of green, blue or red.

The designers originally created the Font Alphabet Puzzle for their young daughter. "There are opportunities which arise every day to be creative and make quick fun toys for her, using the most rudimentary materials and sometimes these mini prototypes can become more refined products," said Looodus co-founder Kurt Stapelfeldt.

Looodus was founded in Milan this year by Stapelfeldt and photographer Denise Bonenti.

I like the idea, just shame about the woeful selection of typefaces. Seriously, Arial Rounded? Century Gothic? When they say “the fonts were selected to be appropriate for their shape and size but also have a special place in the world of design.”, they’re right. The special place of typefaces a graphic designer wouldn’t touch with a 10ft pole.

Bob

Ultimately it’s a rather lovely children’s toy and learning tool, isn’t it? In light of this couldn’t we just briefly suspend our own ‘high’ design conditioning for a moment and imagine it in the hands of more open individuals i.e. children?

Form over content

Way to breed a to-be hipster. Luckily children have something we lack – passion and imagination, which will make this toy pretty dull compared to others coupled with animals, sounds and lights. A toy, or showpiece, for adults.

James Briano

What’s the target age group? I don’t know much about early childhood development, but it seems this would be a rather challenging “toy.”

Mick

You really need to get over yourselves. It’s a toy, developed within a design culture that is representative of this blog. Seriously, and I mean to the likes of Nathan Adams and Form over content, stop overcompensating your own timidity in design.

greg

Nice colour palette and a fun idea. That’s what kids like. I’d totally get this for my kids.